Recovery had never been a problem for Amanda Aborn when it came to running.

The Waltham High alumna had completed the Boston Marathon before, and had always taken just a couple of days of rest after finishing the 26.2 miles before she was out on the streets of Waltham jogging once again.

Only this time was different. Aborn wasn’t able to finish the 26.2 miles because two bombs went off on Boylston Street within minutes of when she was on pace to arrive there. She was stopped on the corner of Hereford and Boylston streets, spent 30 harrowing minutes searching for her boyfriend who was waiting for her at the finish line, and said she spent the next few days in shock from the whole experience.

"It took me a few days to process what went on," she said. "After previous marathons, I got right back into running. But it was more than a week after the race I realized I hadn’t gone for a run once.

"After what happened at the finish line, and what happened in Watertown later that week, being right here in Waltham I didn’t feel right about running right after that. I felt guilty going out for a run."

Aborn said she eventually sat down, forced herself to put on her running shoes for the first time since the events of April 15, and pushed herself back out on the streets for a run.

Still, she said she stayed away from the Copley Square area where the bombings occurred until the final day before the memorial was scheduled to be moved, when she decided she should see it.

"It was very sad," she said. "To see all the pictures of the people who were killed or lost limbs, it brings home the magnitude of what happened. I kept thinking of that little boy – Martin Richard – there to see his father. It was so sad."

Aborn, who was running to raise money for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in honor of her boyfriend Andrew, who overcame lymphoma and is now in remission, said she had intended to take a break from distance running after this year.

But she has since overcome the block that formed in the wake of the bombings. She is back out training, plans to run in a half-marathon in Newport, R.I., in October, and has received a registration to compete in next year’s Boston Marathon because she came so close to the finish line this year before her race was abruptly stopped.

"When I got that, I decided I can’t pass that up," she said. "So I am planning on being back there next year."